Dr Twarath Sutabutr was in Singapore during the Singapore International Energy Week 2013 (SIEW 2013) to speak about the potential of solar energy application in the Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS), which includes Thailand, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. SEAS caught up with him before he interacted with our members at the SEAS Business Matching @ AFEF.

So many solar energy projects have started in Thailand, and things are picking up. What are some of the best opportunities for Singaporean companies in Thailand?

Solar in Southeast Asia is going to be big, not just in Thailand. It all depends on the grid applications, and policy support like feed-in tariffs. So far only Thailand and Vietnam have such a policy. In standalone type of applications in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, there will be opportunities in the market. Singapore is in the leading role in terms of innovation. The application of solar needs some equipment to boost its development – perhaps a hybrid system with wind, biomass, gasification, and hybrid or energy storage. A mircogrid area can also control the types of technology.

What consists of a good formulated project in Thailand?

Rooftop programs could be good idea. Not only installing PV rooftops, also managing power produced on rooftop to integrate with the grid for households and factories.

What other renewable energy sources in Thailand do you think have high potential of meeting the energy needs in Thailand?

Biomass, biogas, municipal waste could be a potential in Thailand. Biotechnology could increase the yield, to be effectively converted to energy.

A lot of energy can be taken from the farms as well. Agricultural waste is our prime target. At the moment we penetrate the market at a high percentage, but now we need to think about dedicated energy crops grown for energy purposes. These are fast growing, fermented and yield to biogas, like fast growing grass. However this needs a lot of technological push.

We do precision farming in Thailand; precision farming is when you have an area that does not suit growth of other crops. And make sure this area cannot grow food chain crops but it can grow energy chain crops. The area needs to be precise and exact. We have to do two things: first to do precision farming, and to increase yield. So in the area to produce food chain crops, there needs to be good investment in water and soil, and at the same time food supply can be yielded for the region. So investment is needed in water, soil improvement to keep up productivity.

Could you also tell us more about the importance of energy efficiency to Thailand?

Thailand has push and pull strategy. There are rules and regulations on large energy consumers and we need to enforce energy efficiency measures. The pull strategy involves incentives to get people to invest. Thailand cannot just achieve savings by housekeeping. We need to invest to save. Investment on new types of equipment and more energy efficient equipment to improve the process. This is a key factor to success.

The Thai government has varieties of measures to support such investments, for example subsidies, tax break, soft loan programs, ESCO programs. But the key factor is not only policy. It is also the mindset of the factory owners, and building owners. What is their perception of energy efficiency? They tend to be more aware about energy efficiency when the price of oil rises. But when it stable or drops, they don’t care.

Do you see opportunity for people to introduce new tech in Thailand and change mindsets?

Thailand is a sizeable market and needs a push for mindset for CEO and CFO to make decision. It’s in the nature of Thai people to need a third party to tell them what is good or bad. With current affairs, people know what is good or bad, but whether they actually do it or not it depends on other factors. People in Thailand are looking for good technology and good investment to transform their production lines to be more productive. For example, in Thailand now, everyone is crazy about LED. There are a lot of business models that help factories to transform their lighting design to LED.

What challenges do you foresee in the development of clean energy and energy efficiency in Thailand? How do you think it can be tackled?

Thailand has a few challenges of its own: the continuity of the government is a key feature. With regards to energy efficiency, policy is always there to help. But the biggest challenge is still the decision of the business leaders to invest. They have to trust the technology provider, they have to think about becoming green, because they’d rather have small upfront investments and high costs than big upfront investment and lower costs. This latter mindset is still not in CEO and CFO’s mind. We need someone to really push the holistic and long term mindset. Only then can Thailand have greater energy efficiency and clean energy.

Another challenge is investment in R&D. Thailand needs to elevate its R&D sector to be in line with the promotion program by the govt. government promote so much they have to import every equipment. If they could have their own tech, Thai companies who provide tech that the market needs, that would be good.